Decius wrote:

Mike the Usurper wrote:
The current strain of bird flu is a great hazard to birds, and probably to the people who handle them, but making a vaccine for the current strain will do a whole lot of nothing other than throw yet more money down a hole.

Can you site a reference for this? Is it clear that a vaccine for the present strain would not produce antibodies that are effective against mutant strains?

Here's one of the places it is noted, but this was something that was heavily discussed after the botch with last year's flu vaccine. They need the actual pathogen, and while close might help, it needs to be close enough.

The best way to do this is have the infrastructure ready to go like I said. The problem is, there's no money in vaccines, so the impetus for the private sector just isn't there. There IS money in the anti-flu drugs like Tamiflu (with a price tag of $60).

RE: Bush Outlines $7.1B Flu-Fighting Strategy